Godly Mistakes
by Pen-of-Gold
Summary: Nike Jackson has never known where he was from. Now that he does he's not so sure he likes it. All of the kids he now knew had only one godly parent. Well then again, so did he. Sort of.
1. Prologue

"It's the only way!" Poseidon bellowed at his brethren.

"Your plan is unlikely to succeed," Zeus said waiving down his brother.

"I have to agree with Poseidon on this one," Hades said from his collapsible chair by the door. "It may be or only hope if things go badly."

"Then he will be the one to carry it out," Zeus said admitting defeat. "Every god will give a power to the unborn son or daughter of Poseidon. He will be conflicted and that will be only a mere challenge he will face. When he arrives at a camp he will have to choose an identity. One godly parent will not be enough for him and multiples will be too much; that is if he goes to Camp Half-blood. Therefor a few of you will choose your Roman side to give your powers. He will be welcomed in both camps. But he will have to decide his own fate. He or she will have to be guided by one of us at a time. Poseidon, do you wish your child to be an outcast? A person who has too much going on to do him any good?"

"I wish for my child to be a hero to Olympus," Poseidon answered with full strength.

"Then it is settled," Hera said intervening between Zeus and Poseidon. "The child shall be given a token from each god. But are you sure about this Poseidon. The child will have much responsibility."

"The child will be up for it."

"Jackson," the radiologist called. "We would like a word with you and the father."

"Let's go Sally," the man with the beard said to his wife. She looked very pregnant and needed a little help getting out of the chair she was sitting in. The man wore a tropical shirt and looked like he would rather be on a beach or out sailing then in the doctor's room waiting to see what could be said about their unborn child.

"We have some good news and bad news," the nurse said as they entered a secluded office. "The bad news is depending on how you look at it but we'll get to that."

"Tell me the good news then," Sally asked trying not to be anxious. "The baby is perfectly healthy and is right on schedule."

"Then what is the bad news?" the father said with a twinge of pain.

"It isn't necessarily bad news mind you," the nurse began. "But you are having twins Mrs. Jackson. Two boys by what the doctor could tell."

"Oh this is wonderful!" Sally exclaimed and threw her arms around the bearded man. He on the other hand didn't make a sound.

'How!' he thought to himself. 'How could this happen! I can't protect two sons! The one was bad enough to take care of. No, I can do this. I must.'

"Are you ok dad?" the nurse asked looking into his eyes.

"Just don't know what to say is all," he lied.

"Sally listen to me!" he bellowed and his voice sounded like the crash of a wave. "It isn't safe for him here. It's not safe for anyone."

"I can't let you take either of them away!" she exclaimed. "I love them both, and so should you."

"I do though," he said calming down. "That is why I must hide Nike away."

"It's Nick," Sally said with a smile. "I don't want kids to call him shoe or something."

"Nike Jackson," he smiled and picked the larger of the two children. "You will be the greatest hero. But you will have to be hidden away so nothing can harm you."

"You will make sure nothing happens to him?" Sally called as they left the room. She couldn't believe he was letting her take one of her sons.

"I'll make sure the three of you are safe until I can't any longer," he said and left her standing in the kitchen holding her remaining son.

"Percy," she silently and walked away with her son in her arms. "When will I ever see your brother again?"


	2. A Bit Confused

"It's weird." I thought to myself as I walking down the streets of Las Vegas. "I have memories of growing up here but none of them seem real." As I walked the streets I came upon a resort that seemed extremely familiar.

"Lotus," I said aloud hoping to bring back a memory. Nothing came to me. I stood there staring at the resort waiting for s0omething to happen. "Oh well."

"Nick," my father called back to me. "You're gonna fall behind."

"Sorry," I said walking up to him. "You would think that since I'm 14 now you would give me a little bit of leeway."

"Not in a city we don't live in with a plane leaving in three hours," he said looking up a little to meet my eyes. I was a bit over six feet tall with short black hair and an athletic build. Anything I wanted to do came easily to me for some reason. My parents just said I was extremely gifted. Both my parents were shorter then I was with light brown hair. I was adopted which is why there was no family resemblance what so ever.

"Be nicer to him," my mother said intervening. "It is his birthday after all."

"Surprised he made it this long," my dad muttered under his breath. I pretended not to hear him and looked into some of the shop windows as we made our way to the airport. The airport was nice and cool as compared to the heat of the morning sun. I liked being in the sun. It made me feel powerful. Then again, so did being up high and in the ocean. "Let's get on this plane and leave so we can get back onto the ground in New York."

"New York?" I asked. "Isn't there a giant storm going on over there?"

"It's starting to break up actually," an ageing man said folding down his newspaper to get a better look at us. I guess he determined us uninteresting because he made a slight face and went back to reading his paper.

"Why are we going to New York?" I asked again because we lived in LA.

"That's for your mother to explain to you," my father said getting up and walking away.

"Well," my mother started to explain. I learned that when she was going to tell me a long and complicated story she started off with 'well' and I had better pay close attention. "As you know you're adopted, and your real parents are somewhere in New York. But you aren't exactly going there. You're going to a camp."

"What kind of camp?" I asked filling with either excitement or rage.

"It's a camp for special kids like you," I think she meant my ADHD and dyslexia. "When we adopted you we were given a warning by a very important man. He told us that in time you would need to be trained and the older you got the more danger we would be in. We naturally took this as a sign to adopt and give you the best life we could. Things started to get bad on your tenth birthday. Monsters started showing up and stalking the house. None of them could get to us because of an enchantment given to us by the man.

"Anyways, ever since then more and more monsters have been coming around. We took this vacation knowing that you would never be able to return back for the enchantment was growing weaker by the day. This camp you are going to is going to train you and keep you safe for as long as you live. We can see you to the camps border but the rest is up to you."

I sat in silence contemplating what my mother had just said. Having ADHD sitting around doing nothing was usually a problem but after that I felt I would stay still for ages. In fact that's what got me through the five hour flight from Las Vegas to New York City. My father got a rental car as soon as we left the terminal and we drove through the city. The storm that had come through the town left a lot of damage in its wake. Parts of building had collapsed and the streets were torn to bits. Police directed traffic where the lights had been knocked out which was at almost every road. We passed by the Empire State Building and found that the worst damage was done there. Having no direct path from the airport my father had to ask directions several times before finally getting out of the city. Once we reached Long Island sound everything looked untouched. I found it weird but didn't feel like commenting on it.

"We're here," someone said from the front seat. I don't remember who because I wasn't really paying attention.

"Where is here?" I asked looking around in front of the car. We had stopped at the bottom of a hill with a pine tree at the top.

"The camp is on the other side of this hill," my mother said turning around. "We love you, and please be safe."

"I love you too mom," I said leaning through the two front seats to give her a hug. Leaving them wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They seemed happy and sad at the same time which kind of confused me. I got my duffle bag out of the trunk of the car and was surprised to see my father standing there.

"It's just over that hill," he said and gave me a hug that turned into a shove up the hill. They say you should never look back, and I didn't. I didn't want to see what my mother was doing in the passenger side of the car or if they were getting ready to drive away. I just trudged up the muddy hill and past the tree. What was waiting for me on the other side was amazing.

"Welcome," said a man riding a horse. No it wasn't a man riding a horse; the man was the horse. "My name is Chiron."

"Nike," I said not knowing where that came from. "I mean Nick… I think."

"Well then," he said. "We could use every confused demigod we can get."

"Demigod?" I asked a bit more confused.

"Yes," Chiron said with a chuckle. "You are a demigod otherwise you would not have made it past the camps magical boundaries."

"What?" was all I could manage to say.

"Come," he said and lead me to a big house with an equally large front porch. "We must get you situated."


	3. Ta-Dah

"Please," Chiron said noticing I hadn't moved from my spot on the hill. "Would you follow me this way?"

"Oh yeah," I said and started to follow. The sight was just too much to take in. Rows of strawberry fields, twelve entirely different houses set up in a U shape with more being built like wings off to the sides. "What is this place?"

"Camp Half-Blood," he said once I caught up to him. "You will reside in one of these houses when your godly parent claims you as their child."

"Wait," I said trying to untangle my mind. "I'm part god?"

"Indeed."

"That would explain a little of my mom's story from this morning," I sighed.

"How old are you?" Chiron asked stopping on the porch.

"14," I said proudly. "Just turned today."

"Well happy birthday," he said happily but I could tell something about my age troubled him. "Now if you would please wait here a moment," Chiron said entering the house and returning moments later with an orange shirt and toiletries. "These are for you. This shirt is your camp shirt and I expect you to wear it. Try not to lose any of these or get them stolen. If you'll excuse me I am needed in here. Make yourself comfortable in the Hermes cabin until you are claimed."

"Where's," I started to ask but the door slammed shut behind him. "Hermes's cabin. Well, I guess I better go and find it." After stuffing my new things in the duffle bag I started off towards the row of cabins. Hadn't made it to the first one when I was stopped by a very beautiful girl.

"Hi," she said sticking out her hand. "My names Crystal. What's yours?"

"At the moment," I said trying to think. "I'm not quite sure to be honest. I think that it's Nick though."

"Well it's nice to meet you," she said and we shook hands. "Have you been claimed yet?"

"No," I said and she got a bit nicer.

"It's ok," she began. "It will happen eventually. I'm a daughter of Aphrodite. Would you like a tour around?"

"Sure," I said readjusting my bag. "Can we stop at the Hermes cabin though? I need to drop off my stuff."

"That's not safe," she said with a little laugh. "Those Hermes kids will go through your stuff and take anything they can sell. You can leave it in my cabin for now if you'd like."

"Will anyone go through it?" I asked and we started to the best kept cabin of all. It had the smell of a sweet perfume leaking out of it.

"Someone could go through it but no one will take the stuff," she said and held open the door. A wall of perfume hit me in the face like a wall when she did that. "I'll take it and put in on my bunk."

"Thanks," I said tearing up a little. From inside I could hear someone yelling.

"Who did that? Who broke my perfume bottle!?"

"Let's go," Crystal said coming back out the door. "I swear it doesn't always smell like that. Someone must have knocked the perfume off a shelf and it broke."

"Glad to know," I laughed and we started touring the camp. She showed me the battle arena where people learned to fight and explained not to go into the woods unless I wanted to fight a monster. I learned the Crystals father was a real estate seller in Connecticut and that her mom met him when she was admiring a fantastic old Victorian house. I told her about my adopted parents and that I didn't know anything about my real ones. We continued to walk around the camp and talk until a bell rang and she told me it was time to eat.

"You're going to have to sit at the Hermes table," she started to explain. "Houses aren't supposed to mix much at dinner but they do on occasion. I'll talk to Chiron when we get there to see if maybe you could sit with us tonight."

"Sounds great," I said and we walked up to the open air pavilion. It was an assortment of tables with columns set up around them.

"Chiron," Crystal said when she had located the centaur. "Is it alright if Nick sits with us at the Aphrodite table?"

"What is that?" Chiron gasped and stared at a point above my head. I looked up to make sure I wasn't on fire and found what him and everyone else was staring at. A giant omega had formed above my head. Every ten second or so it would change. At first it produced lightning and then it made waves. On and on it changed coming up with a symbol for every Greek god. When it was finally done it sent out one last wave and at my feet splashed a shiny double edged sword. Chiron immediately came over to me and looked down at my feet. "Can I see that?"

"Umm… sure?" I said extremely confused. "What just happened?"

"You've been claimed," he muttered inspecting the sword. One side was bronze while the other was gold. The hilt was silver with an omega embroidered into the butt. "This is yours."

"Thanks," I said taking the sword awkwardly. "Where do I sit?"

"Anywhere," he said sounding just as confused as I had. "It seems you have been claimed by all of the gods. But I'm going to say that you move your things into the Poseidon cabin seeing that he was the one to present you with your sword."

"Which one is that?" I asked and he pointed toward an empty table. Of course, no siblings.

"I'll join you once we're done eating," Crystal said running of to join her siblings. Everyone was talking about me until two more kids showed up at dinner.

"Sorry Chiron," the girl said. She had glasses and golden blonde hair that shined in the fire light. "The gods had something urgent to talk about and we had a hard time getting back."

"Yeah," the boy said. He was tall and could have either been taller or shorter then I was. He seemed like a skater with his longish black hair. When he turned around and saw me his expression turned into one of confusion. "Who's that?"


	4. In With a Bang

"Percy!" shouted the girl and slapped the boy. "I think he's your new brother."

"Uh," Chiron said intervening. "Annabeth is right about that being your brother. Umm… would the two of you follow me to the big house?" I silently got up and followed Chiron and Percy back to the house.

"Percy," he said sticking out his hand.

"Nick," I said and we shook.

"Actually Nick," Chiron said. "It is Nike, after one of the gods."

"I'm named after a Greek hero," Percy commented. "Not as cool as a god but still."

"There's more," Chiron said. "But I'll explain inside."

"What is there for you to tell us?" I asked to either of them.

"Well," Percy started instead of Chiron. "After WWII Poseidon wasn't supposed to have children. Actually neither was the Zeus or Hades. I was an accident and I'm guessing so are you."

"Please," Chiron said and a look of pain came over his face. "Inside."

"What's up?" Percy asked sitting on a couch. Over the fire place was a stuffed tiger's head that was somehow still alive.

"I have some things to discus with you two," he began and I sat down next to Percy. "Before either of you two was born the gods made a deal that I myself just learned about today. It was that one child was to be given power from each god. That child is Nike. It was Poseidon's idea so he was to carry it out. Zeus didn't want him to but Hera convinced him. Anyways, Poseidon contacted me shortly after you cam Nike and told me everything about you. A little while after you were born Poseidon took you and put you in the Lotus Hotel."

"I was there on my first quest," Percy said shocked. "How come I didn't see him?"

"I was getting there," Chiron said a little amused. "Nike was taken out two years later and put up for adoption. You grew up in the care of mortals under the god's protection. But that isn't what I wanted to tell you. You are both brothers-"

"That's cause we're both sons of Poseidon right?" I asked trying to put pieces together.

"Well," he began. "Yes. You are also twins. You were born at the same time to the same mother. Nike Jackson this is your brother Percy Jackson."

"What!?" we both exclaimed not expecting to hear that bomb shell.

"And in fact," Chiron said with a smirk. "Nike was born several minutes before you Percy."

"I need to talk to my mom," Percy said and walked into a different room. Chiron just shook his head.

"You stay here with Percy, and meet us back down at diner when you've finished. I have a feeling she'll want to talk to you too."

While I waited for Percy to talk I sat on the couch dumbfounded. My mind was running a million miles a second. In one day I had gone from an adopted single child, to a half-brother, to a twin that I was guessing was two years older than I thought I was. No, I was two years older than I thought I was.

"Nike," Percy called from the other room. "Mom wants to talk to you."

"Hello?" I said cautiously answering the phone. There was silence. And then a small voice on the other end of the line.

"Hi Nike. You probably don't remember me but I'm your mother. If this is as shocking as it is for me then just listen while I talk. I never wanted to let you go but it was best for the safety of everyone."

"That's what my adopted parents said before they dropped me off here," I sighed.

"Honey I-I know," she sighed. "I want you to be good to your younger brother. Don't let all that power go to your head. I hope to see you soon." The line went dead and I hung up the phone.

"So," I said and looked at my brother. "What do you make of this?"

"For one thing I have a twin," he said still shocked. "For another, hell, I don't know."

"Can I ask you a stupid question," I said sheepishly. "How old are we and whens our birthday?"

"What?" Percy said and laughed. "16 and at the moment I couldn't tell ya." At that we both started to laugh. It felt good to do that.

"I'm hungry," I said after we regained our breath.

"C'mon let's eat," he said and I followed him out the door. It turned out I was the taller one but only by a few inches. I had a thicker build then him but he was probably better with a sword.

"How old should I say I am?" I asked when we sat down at our table with our food. "And why is that soda blue?"

"It's a joke with my mom," she said and paused. "Our mom. Anyways I would go with 16 because that's how old I am. And that's how old you technically are."

"Ok," I said and he explained the joke about the blue foods and he told me about his life. I told him about mine and what it was like growing up. Then I remembered my sword and picked it up from where I left it under the table. "Wanna teach me how to use this?"

"Sure," Percy shrugged and I handed him my sword. "This is pretty cool. Dad gave me Rip Tide and it takes the form of a pen when it isn't in use."

"I wonder if my sword changes form." I said and took it back. When I got it I pushed on the Omega on the bottom of the hilt and it transformed into a gold and bronze phone.

"Nice," Percy said and I slid it into my pocket with the other one.

"What should I do with this?" I asked and took it out.

"Get rid of it," was his answer. "They tend to attract monsters."

"Alright," I said taking out my new sword. I flipped open the phone and pressed the center key and it turned back into the sword. I placed my old phone on the table and lined up the butt of the hilt with the screen of the phone. Then I thought of another idea, a more fun one. I clicked my sword back into a phone and handed the old one to Percy. "Throw this."

"Ok?" he said and stood up. Stepping away from the table he hurled the phone as far as he could and it sailed through the air. When it started to make its decent I attempted to summon something to destroy the phone. There was a loud crack and a bolt of lightning exploded the phone into a million pieces. When I turned around everyone was staring at me.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Percy said addressing everyone. "My twin, the only son of Poseidon who can summon lightning! And probably anything else."


	5. Night-Mares

As summer drew on I grew closer to the kids at the camp. In some way I was connected to all of them and yet in other ways I had nothing in common. Chiron told me that soon I would have to make some very big decisions. Ones that would affect the course of humanity. Percy had told me not to worry about it, but what could I do?

"Really?" I had said getting pissed off. "You expect me to not worry? I have to fucking decide which part of me to choose! Not just which power to keep, but which side to go to!"

"Which side to go to?" Percy said getting confused. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," I said taking a breath. "Chiron said something about being Greek forever."

"You can't change that," Percy said patting me on the back.

"I know," I sighed staring at the ground. "Wanna have a sword fight?"

"Really? You're already better than I am. Why do you constantly seek to show me up?"

"Because," I said smirking. "You're the only one here dumb enough to fight with me."

"Ight fine," Percy said and we raced towards the training area. I found myself there most of the time either slashing apart a dummy or showing a fellow camper some techniques. Everything came easily to me and I started to tick off some people. I was even told not to play in the capture the flag games a few times at the end of the summer. But if I wasn't fighting or training in combat I was just wandering around. Sometimes I was alone and other times I was with Crystal. She was one of the few campers who saw all of my powers as incredible.

"You've grown," she said one night after dinner when we were walking along the boundaries of the camp. "When I first met you, you were less muscular and a bit shorter."

"Not to mention two years younger," I said and we laughed. It was true though. Somehow I had grown two years since my arrival at the camp. I had gained a lot of muscle from training every day, but I had actually gotten the two years of my life that Poseidon had stolen from me. So instead of being a Seventeen year old in a fourteen year-olds body I was a seventeen year old in a seventeen year-olds body. I had learned that my real birthday was actually August 18th and not June 30th.

"I'm serious," she said once she regained her breath. "You are truly a different person."

"That's because I know exactly who I am now. And to be honest I wish I didn't."

"Why?" she asked probing me with her soft green eyes. She had a way of bringing information out of me that I wouldn't tell other; not even Percy.

"Well," I started to explain. "You know how I have powers from all of the god's right? Well, once things have settled back down I have to choose between myself. If I don't make a decision then I could die. From what I was told all the powers weren't meant to be contained inside a single person. Even for the gods it would be too much. Anyways, there's more to this that I can feel I haven't been told about."

"What will that do to you?" she asked making me give her a questioning look. "I mean all those powers. Will the longer you have them make you explode?"

"No," I said trying to remember what Chiron had told me. "It's something about multiple god disorder. I think it's when you have too much power and conflicting sides that your mind tears you apart. I was supposed to help save the world but now I'm thinking I could destroy it."

"That's terrible," she said and clenched my hand. "Then I'm gonna stick with you no matter what."

"You'll have to keep me going down the right path."

"Deal," she said and we kissed under the pine tree. This was the one spot in the camp that we had claimed as our own. No one bothered us, not even the dragon sitting at the base of the tree. That night after we retired to our cabins I had my first dream in years.

"He must be destroyed!" Zeus cried holding court on Olympus.

"I won't let you!" bellowed back Poseidon. "He's my son and I won't let you do that."

"He's getting too powerful!" exclaimed Dionysus.

"Let the boy grow," said Ares. "We'll need the best warriors we can get our hands on. That boy has my war mind."

"He's also cunning," Athena commented. "If we have any chance of surviving to see another generation."

"No," Hestia inputted. "We mustn't let him grow."

"Nonsense," Hephaestus threw in. From what I could guess they were discussing my fate. I tried to get their attention but it was no use. I was just meant to watch them. It was horrible to see the creators of your being talking about destroying you. In that moment something clicked in my brain. I had to show them I was worth keeping around, but how?

"Greek or Roman," Zeus grumbled. "He will be torn. We will let his actions decide his fate."

"Nike," Percy said shaking me awake. He seemed upset but I couldn't tell why. "You've gotta get ready."

"For?" I mumbled rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. The Poseidon was warmer than usual that night so I had slept in my underwear and had just realized that when Annabeth walked into the room.

"Hi," was all I could think to say. There was no use trying to hide the fact I was wearing bright blue boxer briefs. "What do I need to be ready for?"

"You and I," Annabeth said turning pink and facing in a different direction. "Once you're dressed of course; are going into the city. There are a few things we need and they might be out of reach."

"If they're out of reach," I said pulling on a pair of shorts and my orange camp T-shirt. "What make you think I'll be able to get it?"

"You have most of the powers dude," Percy interjected. "Use your head. Instead of bringing one camper from each house we'll bring a camper that has most of the powers."

"Fair enough," I said and we walked out of the cabin. I was immediately embraced by Crystal who was radiant as usual.

"Come back in one piece would ya," she said jokingly.

"I'll try," I said and we walked over to the stables. "Are we really flying?"

"I would think so," Annabeth said opening a stall door.

"He doesn't wanna go far," I told her when she started to get him geared up.

"How," she said thinking a moment. "Right, you can talk to them too. Alright then, who wants to fly us to New York and back?"

"Me!" called Percy's horse Blackjack. "I'm up for it."

"Blackjack will take us," I said glancing at Percy.

"Not you boss?" Blackjack asked looking at Percy.

"Nope," he smiled. "You'll be taking Nike and Annabeth."

"Hop on then," he said and I motioned to Annabeth to get on. The flight to New York was a relaxing one. What we needed to obtain was easily reached; by me. One of the campers had left an undetonated bomb in the city and it was up to us to get it. I found it lying in an alleyway a block down from the empire state building. Once we had retrieved it and I made sure it wasn't going to explode we had another task. A rare horse had been running around the outskirts of the city and it was up to us to find it.

"What was the name of it again?" I asked Annabeth for the hundredth time.

"Hippalectryon," she said sounding out each syllable.

"Rear of a rooster?" I guessed. "Rest looks like a horse?"

"Yup," she said scaning the ground.

"Go to central park," I told Blackjack. "I saw it over by the fountain."

"Are you sure that's what it was?" Annabeth questioned.

"How many people in New York do you think have half rooster half horse creatures?"

"Good point," she sighed and we descended into central park. The shade was nice and cool and there was no one in sight. Then Annabeth and I were thrown off of Blackjack who fell to the ground when a giant object hit us from the side.


	6. Lost and Found

My head was pounding as I tried to get up. The world was spinning and I fell back down. After I sat there for a minute or two and the world had stopped moving I surveyed my surroundings. Annabeth was sitting a few feet away from me with her head between her knees.

"You ok?" I asked looking around for Blackjack. I found him under a try a few yards away looking around.

"What hit us?" he said noticing I had gotten up.

"My guess," I said standing up. "It was the Hippalectryon."

"Where is it then?" Annabeth asked looking up just in time to see a giant winged beast land in between us. It was a little taller than I was and had some pretty distinct features. Its front half was all horse with a copper colored fur and main that blended with copper feathers. The rear was that of a bird, almost like a backwards hippogriff.

"Who are you?" she asked Blackjack.

"We're not here to harm you," I said intervening.

"Son of Poseidon?" the hippalectyon guessed. "But I sense there's more to you. You are not just Poseidon; you have the distinct smell of all the gods in one. How interesting; why are you here?"

"To ask you to accompany us back to our camp," I said as kindly as possible. "There are beings in this land that will seek to harm you if they know of your presence."

"I must tell you," she said backing me away from Annabeth. "My kind does not take kindly to people using us. But you, you are one it seems I can trust. Many have tried to tame me and my brethren without succeeding. "

"I don't wish to tame; just to protect."

"As you said before," she said ignoring what I had said. "There are people who wish to harm you as well. I think we will come to an agreement."

"Go on," I said encouragingly.

"I will protect you as long as protection is given. My kind are very proud beings and we wish to remain that way. We are also protectors of the strongest most vulnerable of demigods."

"I accept," I said after a moment of thought. "What is your name?"

"Jet," she said and flapped her wings. "As in Jetstream."

"Well then," I said petting her. "It is nice to meet you."

"Do you trust her?" Blackjack chimed in with Annabeth already on his back. Her look was one that said she was getting ready to get help.

"Yes," I said starring into Jet's eyes. "I believe she is telling the truth. Wanna race back to camp?"

"Seriously?" Annabeth protested.

"It's up to the horses since they're the ones carrying us."

"It would be an honor to show a pegasus up," Jet said and brayed.

"It's on," Blackjack said and flapped his wings getting ready for takeoff.

"On my count," I said climbing up onto Jet's back. "1… 2… 3!"

"You suck Nike!" Annabeth wailed as we took off. The two horses sped through the sky and weaved in and out among the buildings. I held onto Jet for dear life as she gained speed and altitude. Soon Blackjack and Annabeth were far behind us.

"You know where we're going?" I hollered over the wind.

"Of course," Jet said and started to descend. "I've been around your camp of Greek demigods before. Remember; I said we protected demigods. In order to do that you need to know where to find them."

"Right," I said as the camp came into view. "Set down on top of that hill next to the tree."

"Ok," she said and we landed smoothly. A minute later Blackjack came into view and landed next to us.

"You cheated!" cried Annabeth. "There's no way you could have gone faster."

"I wanna rematch!" called out Blackjack. He looked seriously winded.

"First," I said trying to hold back a laugh. "We need to get the bomb to the Hephaestus kids."

"Sore losers," Jet whispered to me. All I could do was laugh. As we rode into the camp people stopped what they were doing to watch us. Apparently a Hippalectyon was a rare sight inside the camp.

"You found both," Chiron said surprised when he saw us. Then he turned to me and a grave expression grew across his face. "Nike, I have some bad news. It seems your brother has gone missing. And the gods have stopped all contact with anyone."

"What!" I exclaimed. "How could he go missing?"

"We don't know," Chiron admitted. "We've sent out search parties to look for him, except in the ocean."

"I'll be back," I told them and leaped off of Jet and sprinted towards the ocean. I instinctively dove into the water and continued on. I tried to communicate to Percy using my mind. We learned a few days after my arrival that we could either talk to each other when underwater and close or through our minds when we were farther apart. I spent hours searching for him but found no sign of him. Not even any of the sea creatures had seen him. When I was finally dark I called it quits and went back to the camp.

"You've been gone a while," Crystal said as I walked onto the beach next to the pear.

"Nothing," I grumbled to myself only half realizing she was there. "He better be back or I'm gonna kill someone."

"Nike," she demanded and I stopped. "Calm down. They'll find him. Don't worry."

"I know," I sighed and we walked up into the camp. That night I dreamt I was back in the ocean searching for my brother. Then a voice came out or the depths clear as crystal.

"You won't find him here," it called. It was a woman's voice; one from my dream about the gods. "He has been traded with another. The two of them are keys in the survival of our world; you are also a major part. He will return soon, Nike. You must trust in that."

"Who are you!?" I screamed when the voice had stopped. It never returned in the dream. That morning I awoke on the beach with Jet starring down at me.

"Nice swim?" she asked questioningly.

"If you call it that," I said trying to remember where I was and how I got there.

"You'll find your brother," she sighed and lay down next to me. "I hope."


	7. Leave

I had been away from camp from September 5th until October 13th. I had decided to go to a private school in the mountains of Massachusetts. It was secluded at the top of a mountain; which was the only reason I stayed there. If a monster was going to come after me I could see it coming from a mile away. There was also a stable where Jet stayed when I wasn't able to ride her. Being up high was good for the two of us, she enjoyed looking out across the sky and being up in the mountain helped clear my mind.

While at school I managed to be a complete loner. Kids tried to make friends with me but I had to shrug them aside. I couldn't let anyone get too close to me in case something happened. Lately my powers had been getting too far out of control. A few times while walking along a path in the woods with Jet, flowers sprouted where I had been walking. It happened once in the dorm hallway but I was the only one around to see. I had also over done a project for a mechanics class and created a jet out of who-knows-what.

"I need to get back," I told Jet when I was sure we were alone. The other horses were really the only ones I talked to. Some of them were funny and others just wanted me to let them out.

"I know," she said and shook her head. "Oh, there's a package for you in here."

"Who's it from?" I asked opening the stall gate and getting the box out of the hay.

"If I knew then I would have said there's a package from so-and-so."

"No need to be mean," I said and opened the box. There was a note inside that read:

Hi these are for you.

A little gift to help out.

Please use them safely.

~Apollo

"What's in there?" Jet asked peering over my shoulder. Underneath a set of bubble wrap was a set of bow and arrows. The arrows were similar to my sword in the fact one side was celestial bronze and the other was a type of gold.

"These are nice," I said slinging the quiver of arrows and the bow over my shoulder. "I'll be back to take you out once I lock these away…" I trailed off because in front of me a rainbow appeared with Annabeth standing inside.

"Hey," she said excited. "Listen I don't have much time but you need to get to camp as soon as possible. We've found someone who might be able to tell us where Percy is."

"I'll leave here as soon as I can!" I said joyfully. "Finally, an excuse to leave this place."

"I'll see you later then," she said and the rainbow disappeared.

"We leaving?" Jet asked happily.

"Not quite," I said hiding my things under the hay. "I need to tell the headmaster something's come up and I have to leave.

"I'm sorry," he said but didn't look all that sorry. He was a rather portly man that could barely fit behind his desk. "But the rules are the rules. You can't leave the schools grounds without a parent or guardians say so."

"Don't you remember?" I started to explain. "That I have no legal parents or guardians?"

"Nick," he sighed. "I cannot let you leave the schools grounds until a proper break comes up. That is unless you have a parent or guardian to take you since you are under aged."

"You don't understand though," I told him. "But I need to get back to New York. My friend's mother is extremely ill and she wants me to be there with her."

"No," he said getting pink in the face. "And that's my final word."

"Not even if the mother of my friend talks to you?" I started to formulate a plan in my head. If I could get hold of Crystal and have her put drew on the phone then I might have a chance of leaving. Drew was one of the few, if not the only, charm speaker at the camp.

"No!" he huffed and shooed me away. "Now go get back to class. I am a very busy man."

"Yes sir," I said and left his office. I realized that my class was in the stables so I could easily leave if the chance came up.

"You are late Mr. Jackson," the equestrian teacher scolded when I walked into the stables.

"I was at the headmasters," I said casually.

"Alright," she said and glared at me a little. She was rather old and wrinkly; like a dried out piece of pale leather. "I want you all to do the trails today. No one is to return until my whistle is blown. Once you hear it you must immediately race back. Last one has to clean the winners stall. Alright leave when you're ready."

"Ok," I whispered to Jet. "We're leaving in a few minutes."

"What about your stuff?" she asked looking at me.

"Most of my clothes are back at camp and my swords in my pocket."

"And the bow and arrows?"

"I'm just gonna ride with them out," I said and jumped onto her back. "Now go into the woods and when no ones around take off."

"Finally," she said and we galloped into the wood. No one was near us but we kept along the path for a few more minutes just to be sure. "Now?"

"Now," I said and we burst through the trees. The sun was starting to get low in the sky so I guessed we wouldn't be back at camp much before bed.

I was right. Everyone was at the camp fire when we arrived. But instead of everyone singing and having a good time the fire was low and no one was talking. I debated just going in and joining everyone but I wanted to watch and see what was going on. Up next to Chiron was a kid with longish blonde hair and a purple shirt. Then out of nowhere he summond a bolt of lightning.

"I thought you were the only one who could do that here?" Jet asked as we watched.

"Not anymore," I said and knocked and arrow into the bow. I sent the arrow flying straight at my target; the fire. It hit with a resounding thud and made everyone jump. As the fire roared for a brief moment I started to walk down the stairs to see the new comer. All eyes were on me now. "Where is he?"


	8. End of the Beginning

Silence. That's all there was as I made my way toward the son of Zeus. He stood a few inches shorter than me and also had a golden sword. I could tell there was something about his I didn't like right off the bat. Or maybe it was a connection; a sense of not belonging?

"He doesn't know," Annabeth said pulling on my shoulder. "I've already asked. He doesn't know much aside from what happened today."

"You said," I began.

"I know what I said!" she told me in a soft voice and I could see a tear fall from her eye. "It was just a hope. I called you before I had gotten the chance to talk with him."

"What's your name?" I said turning my attention towards the newcomer.

"Jason," he said as if trying to remember. He seemed to have the same problem that I had when I first got there. Then a flicker of hope ran through me.

"Are your only powers what Zeus gave you?"

"What?" he said blinking.

"I'll demonstrate," I said as I raised flowers from the ground at his feet, brought a small tidal wave over them and sent a lightning bolt into the flower patch.

"No," Jason said giving me a questioning look.

"Sorry," I said and backed away. "But you seemed like I did when I first got here. I couldn't remember much and it was due to the fact I was gaining two years at the same time and I have MGD."

"MGD?" he said looking more confused.

"Multiple God Disorder," I sighed. "I'm the only demigod to ever be cursed with this. Because I have all of the gods powers I have to make a life changing decision, or die."

"Wow," he said and I could see sympathy in his face. We stood in silence for a while then I retired to my cabin for the night. My third dream in my life happened that night and it went along with my last one. I was sitting in a big open space that stretched on for miles on end. Then the same voice called to me.

"Nike, stand and greet your new acquaintance." A girl appeared before me and I stood up. She seemed powerful and cunning. I told tell she was a demigod, but why had we never met? I tried to say hello but nothing would come out so we settled on a handshake. "This is Reyna; she's a leader of another camp. Find her Nike. Reyna, you must let Nike into your camp. He will prove important to you in the time to come. Now both of you sleep; tomorrow you will meet."

The next morning I woke up to the sounds of a metal dragon taking flight. I have no idea how a metal dragon could fly but it did. A group had formed in the center of the houses and had started to dissipate by the time I got dressed and outside. My cabin was eerily silent because it was just me in there and no one else. For siblings that had just met; we immediately became friends.

"Nike," Annabeth called as I made my way towards the stables.

"I have thing's I need to do," I said and kept walking.

"I realize," she said and walked next to me. "I'm going out on a search and I want you to come with me."

"I can't," I sighed and pulled open the stable doors. Jetstream was already waiting for me to take her out. "I need to talk to someone before I do anything else."

"Then I should accompany you."

"I need to do this alone," I sighed and got onto Jet. "I'm sorry Annabeth, but this is something I have a feeling I should do alone."

"Alright," she said and backed up so we could take off.

"She lost someone too," Jet reminded me when the camp was a speck in the distance.

"I know," I sighed as we gained speed and headed west. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Sort of," she said and flew us under a plane. I spent most of the flight in silence letting the wind push past me and turning away a few storm clouds. We flew for a few hours before we made out descent. I could see the Pacific Ocean a little ways off and what I thought could have been LA. You would think I might have known having grown up there for all of my life; minus two years.

"Where are we landing?" I asked noticing the freeway rapidly coming up underneath us.

"There," Jet said and I could see three kids standing in front of a door in the middle of the freeway. I learned that the mist could do some spectacular things to prevent mortals from seeing what we're up to. This must have been another trick. The two kids on the end seemed to be wearing roman guard outfits and neither of them seemed familiar. But the one in standing in between them and in front of the door I knew to be Reyna. She seemed just as powerful as she did in my dream. As Jet touched down she made no movement to extend any sort of greeting. As I got off of Jet I made my way over towards the three.

"Reyna I presume?"

"That must mean you are Nike," she said looking me over. The two kids standing next to her seemed kind of scrawny and intimidated. I figured I could take them both if need be. "You seem different."

"I've learned to take that as a compliment."

"Follow me," she said and lead the way into the door. Jet followed close behind me to make sure she would get in.

"I don't like it here," she said peeking around me to watch Reyna.

"Just relax," I said causing Reyna to turn around.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry," I said quickly. "I'm a son of Poseidon so I can talk to horses."

"Greek?" she said quizzically.

"Is there a problem?" I asked as we made our way forward.

"It's just you seem very roman to me."

"Interesting," I said as we came out into the sun. At first it was blinding and then I could see a giant wall in front of us and a river separating us from the wall.

"This is New Rome," she said walking through the river. For some reason I didn't think I should. A part of me seemed attached to the side I was standing on. But I had a piece of me waiting to be reconnected just across the water. "Is there a problem?"

"No," I said and stepped into the river. It was then that hell broke loose inside of me.


	9. Clash

I felt nothing but pain. Something was trying to pull me in two and whatever it was I didn't like. I could feel the water rushing around me. Could see people trying to pull me out of the water. I couldn't do anything but lie in pain at the bottom of the river. Then I blacked out.

"What happened?" I heard someone boom. Zeus, but I thought the gods had disconnected from us.

"He was torn between the sides," someone chimed in.

"My son," Poseidon called out. I could feel my body being lifted off of a cold hard surface. "Are you boy?" All I could do was gasp for breath. The pain I had just experienced was too much for me to handle and recovery time would be long. But after a few minutes I was able to focus. Each of the gods sat in the throne room that I had visited so many times in my dreams. There was something different about them though. Half of them sat in their original Greek forms; including my father and Athena. The others were dressed in what I figured was their Roman form; among these were Zeus and Hades.

"What… happened," I stammered.

"The time is coming for you to choose," Zeus said. Or I think it was Jupiter.

"Choose what?" I asked realizing I was sitting on the arm of my dad's chair.

"What you want to live as," Poseidon sighed. "Do you wish to live as a Greek in Camp Half-Blood?"

"Or as a Roman in New Rome?" Jupiter affirmed.

"Why would I have to choose?" I asked looking at each of the individual gods. "I was created to help defend things with all of the powers for a reason was I not? Or have you decided I am no longer needed?"

"Calm down," Athena said and her owl nodded at me. "You won't have to make this decision yet, but in time you will."

"No," I said and dropped to the floor. "I'm not choosing anything. I can't just give up half of who I am, but you wouldn't understand that."

"You will," Jupiter bellowed at me. "The sooner the better if you ask me."

"I won't," I said reaching into my pocket and drawing my phone. As soon as it changed into a sword I was struck by lightning.

"He's ok," Reyna said as I gasped for breath. I wasn't dreaming; that I knew.

"How long have I been out?"

"Only a few minutes," she said helping me to my feet. "What happened?"

"I upset the gods slightly," I said rubbing my head. "If you want to discuss this I would suggest someplace private."

"And so we shall," she said and lead me through her camp. It was much more than a camp though. It was a thriving city. Entire families made their ways through the city. Small children played in the streets and the smells of baked bread wafted through the air.

"It's beautiful," I said.

"Thank you," Reyna smiled and we walked further into New Rome. We wound our way deep into the land and came upon an old building with a sagging roof. "This is the one place I can think to talk. Now what is going on?" So I explained to her about my problem but not about the other camp. I felt there was no need to tell her about that. I told her why I was created and what all the power would end up doing to me.

"So you see," I said finishing my story. "I'm not sure why I was meant to come here, but it will play a large role in the time to come."

"How can I know I can trust you?" she said looking around the room frantically then swore in an ancient language I didn't quite understand. "My dogs, they can tell when someone is telling the truth or lying. I left them in a different area."

"Why don't you use names?" I asked questioningly.

"As I said before," she said giving a sly smile. "It's a trust thing."

"But you've brought me into your town."

"In that dream I was told to get you in and I have. If what you said about the gods having banned connection with their children then last night was the last contact."

"I fear that it was," I said and shook my head. "If only I knew the reason I was to come here."

"I do not know," she said and she started to leave the building. "Come with me."

"Before we leave," I said remembering a piece of information I felt was vital to the reason I came. "I've lost someone recently and was thinking maybe you knew where they could be. His name is Percy."

"I'm sorry," she said and stopped before she could get to the door. "But I don't know the where about of your friend."

"Well then," I sighed and began to follow her. "Where to next?"

"Back to the river," she said and opened the door. Immediately the air was filled with screams of terror. We glanced at each other and sprinted out the door towards the screams. "Gods what's going on?"

"Reyna," a scrawny blond hair boy said running up to us. "There's a monster inside the camp, and-and"

"And what?" she said with authority. "Out with it."

"It's his fault."

"What?" I exclaimed and drew my sword.

"I was warned about a boy coming with an imperial gold and bronze sword."

"You didn't know I had this," I said getting into the boy's face.

"Either way," he said cowering a little. "It's your fault. That thing you came here on is terrorizing the town."

"What did you do to her?" I said and sprinted off towards the screaming.

"Stop him!" called out Reyna and soldiers came flooding out of the alleys between the buildings.

"Let's see what I can't do," I said to myself and brandished my sword. As they came at me I fought with valor. My sword clashed with the metal of their armor and I wounded a few of them. The screams turned into sounds of rage. The mood in the town became on that spelled out danger. This was definitely not the reason I was meant to come.

"Stop," came an authoritative voice over the clashing metal. "He's mine to finish."

"You Romans," I laughed and swung my sword in a circle. "Don't know when to give up do you?"

"You will be punished," she said and stepped forward from the crowd. I decided to show off a little and sent a bolt of lightning out of the top of my sword. "How did you!?"

"Son of Jupiter," I smiled and by this time Jetstream had found me. "Sorry I can't stay, but I gotta fly."

"Get back here!" she screamed as I climbed onto Jet and we took off. Arrows flew at us but I created a shield of dense air around us to prevent them from hitting us. As the arrows fell back to earth I couldn't help but think about the families they would be falling on. So I tried my best to make a bubble around New Rome.

"Not to alarm you," Jet said casually. "But there's an arrow sticking out of your shoulder."


	10. Alone

I've taken over this part of the story for Nike because at the moment he's indisposed. ~Jetstream

On the flight back to Camp Half-Blood Nike passed out somewhere over the Colorado Rockies. The arrow that was penetrating in one side and out the other side of his shoulder was glinting with scarlet colors. He slumped forwards as blood was lost and my fur and feathers dimmed in color.

"You OK?" I asked him checking to see if he was awake. I got no response from him. The faster I flew the more I thought about him sliding off of me. But for whatever reason he stayed on. I thought that he could still have the ball of air around us but I wasn't sure. The camp was entirely dark by the time I landed in front of the Big house but Chiron was there waiting for me.

"Is he alright?" Chiron asked looking at him. I shook my head. "Bring him this way and we'll get him taken care of."

I sat outside of the window where Nike was being kept at the big house. I heard them saying that the arrow had some type of poison in it. First it numbed out the region that was infected and flowed into the blood stream. From what I could tell Nike had completely gone numb and they didn't know if he would be alright again.

"He's gonna be fine," I heard Annabeth telling a sobbing Crystal. "We'll get him back."

"It's been a week," she sobbed and the rest of what she said was unrecognizable. When the three newcomers arrived from their quest the mood of the camp strengthened a little bit. Apparently one of them had a way to reach the Roman camp that had shot Nike. The blonde one, I think was called Jason, had actually been from that camp.

"So," I heard him saying one night while he, Annabeth, Crystal and another child of Aphrodite sat by Nike's bedside. "He's my half-brother?"

"More or less," Annabeth sighed. "I guess that makes him related to everyone in both camps."

"That could be a good thing," the second girl said. "He could be the ambassador from both camps to the gods if needed."

"One problem," Jason said. "Both the gods and Romans hate him."

"Then he can stay here," Crystal said perking up. "He needs to decide which camp to stay at and it's been decided for him."

"You know him just as well as I do," Annabeth said shaking her head. "He's not going to let that wound go without avenging himself. He's gonna get back at the Romans eventually."

"Even if that means giving up his Greek side," Jason guessed and she nodded her head. "C'mon, let's give him some peace."

Time passed and still Nike didn't wake up. I began to worry I had failed my job as a protector. If he didn't wake up soon I wasn't sure what I would do. So in the dead of night I flew up to Mount Olympus to see if I could get any help.

"You shouldn't have come," Poseidon said to me when I landed inside Olympus.

"I know," I told him solemnly. "It's just that I can't fail Nike. We made a pact to protect each other. He held up his end and I failed him."

"Nonsense," he laughed.

"But the arrow," I began. "He hasn't woken up from the sleep it put him into.

"I know," he said looking grim. "I'm just as worried as you are."

"Then there's nothing you can do?"

"Zeus has forbidden us from contacting our children, of course we do anyways but that's beside the point. The truth is alone I can't save him. Since he has power from each god then each god must help me."

"Why can't you save him yourself?"

"I could, but that would do more harm than good I think. If I were to try and bring him back on my own it would sever all the ties he has to the other gods and the other camp."

"So he's gone then."

"Not necessarily," Poseidon said and a tiny bit of happiness came across his face. "He could pull himself out of this but the poison would need to be completely out of his system."

"How long would that take?" I asked getting ready to fly back to the camp.

"Only time will tell," he sighed and stepped back. "I trust you will be there for him until the end Jetstream."

"My job isn't done until there's no pulse left," with that I raced back to camp to make sure I hadn't failed while talking to Poseidon. He was still alive but Chiron wasn't sure how much longer he would live.

"I've never seen something like this," he sighed on night at the end of winter. "He's been asleep for months and yet he lives."

"On the bright side," a naiad said cheerfully. "Now we know what to expect from this kind of poison."

"If that's the only bright side in this whole endeavor then I pray for this camp."

As the months rolled on I just sat by the window and prayed to the gods that he would be saved. Visitors came each day and stayed for as long as they wished; each as sad as the last. Then one day towards the middle of June a tall hooded figure appeared at Nike's bedside.

"You are needed," a woman's voice said. Cautiously I lifted my head above the windowsill and watched. The woman lifted a syringe and thrust it into the exact spot where the arrow had been. A blue liquid was pushed into him and it ran through his veins like ice. I could see it working its way along his blood stream and as it was worked in and out of his heart the color slowly left. Nothing happened as a result of this. The hooded figure disappeared just as quickly as she had come.

Jason, Annabeth, Piper, Leo and a very colorful satyr left the next day to start a quest involving seven demigods. I figured the other three would be found at the Roman camp because Nike was still here. Annabeth said he would have come if he was able but she wouldn't risk moving him. She also said that if he never woke up it would have been a waist of the quest. She said all this to him before they left as if he could hear her.

"How is he?" Chiron asked me shortly after the departure. But I didn't answer, there was no need. Nike's heart was stopping.


End file.
